Guitar Archeology

Jimi With Sunn Amplifiers

Buck Munger left Jimi on the phone to Oregon and wandered back into the hall where setting up Mitch Mitchell’s drums was the focus of attention, which gave me the opportunity to check out Mitch’s kit up close and introduce myself. Mitch was another jazz-influenced fills master, no boring boom chucker here. With three guys in the b…and you have to fill up the musical spaces. In handling a set of Mitch’s sticks, I noticed they were “Ringo Starr” models. At that point in time Ringo was taking a lot of heat as the least of the Beatles and I was a little surprised this cutting-edge drummer would have an old-school idol. Ringo? “Ringo’s a great drummer,” growled Mitch, giving me a glare. The Brits stick together and I’ll admit, after Mitch chewed on me, I went back and listened again, and he was right. I was a lot closer to Jimi this time. At the Monterey Pop Festival I was a ways back taking in the whole Experience. This time I was standing right behind his amplifiers watching the KT-88 power tubes cook. I don’t know what I would have done if they crapped out, all I knew how to do was change a fuse, and I realized I didn’t even have any extra fuses in my pockets. I was spread-eagled on the altar of fate. We were flying high over the city and if we crashed, so be it, but for now, the view was breathtaking. I had wondered how Jimi’s set from Monterey would translate inside a giant gymnasium. Remember, these were the days of no stage monitors, no board mixes and minimum, if any, lights. Look at all the pictures of Jimi. None were taken in a follow-spot. At this venue Jimi was just up on a portable stage at the end of the basketball court with bleachers on either side, or folding chairs in the middle. The place was packed with college students. It wasn’t a warm summer night outdoors with lights, camera and warm-up action. It took about half a song to erase any doubt that Jimi could create the magic again. This time I tried to get a look at how he made it happen. He had the longest fingers I have ever seen on a human being. They seemed to be able to stretch half the neck length. He plucked and hammered the strings with his right (fretting) hand and waved his pick in the air. He played behind his head and he plucked the strings with his teeth, all while keeping the barrage of sound bouncing off the walls. “Foxy Lady” was a hit here too, as was “Hey Joe” and “Like A Rolling Stone” by the time he got to “Wild Thing” the joint was rockin’.